World Bank’s Kim Urged to Stop Financing Fossil-Fuel Projects

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- World Bank President Jim Yong Kim,
who yesterday vowed to boost the lender’s contribution to easing
the effects of climate change, was urged by non-profit
organizations to stop financing fossil-fuel projects.

In a letter sent to Kim today, a group of more than 50
organizations, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth,
welcomed his commitment to countering global warming and asked
him to translate his pledge into action.

“The World Bank cannot meaningfully address climate change
unless its lending practices, and core energy portfolio, do not
further exacerbate the climate crisis and its impact on
vulnerable communities,” according to the letter, which was
posted on the website of one of the organizations, Washington-based Oil Change International. “It is by this measure, rather
than words, that we judge the World Bank’s commitment to
addressing climate change.”

Asked about the letter, World Bank Vice President for
Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte said the bank has doubled
its investments in renewable energy in the past five years. She
said 19 percent of energy lending last year was related to
fossil fuel.

“We will never end poverty if we don’t tackle climate
change, but we have to make sure that poor countries have the
energy they need to light schools, heat homes, keep medicines
refrigerated and cook meals,” Kyte said in an e-mailed
response. “Wherever possible, we do that through renewable
sources.”

In the letter to Kim, the organizations said the bank
should end support for all fossil-fuel projects unless it can be
demonstrated that their sole purpose is to increase energy
access to the poor and that there is no better alternative.

A 2011 draft energy proposal by the World Bank that
considered limiting the lender’s financing of coal-fired plants
to the poorest countries was never adopted. While the last large
coal-fired plant financed by the bank was in South Africa in
2010, the lender is considering providing partial guarantee for
a lignite-fired power plant in Kosovo.